Last Monday night, the Amsterdam International Fashion Week kicked of with all of Holland’s biggest celebrities seated frontrow at the Jan Taminiau show. Expectations were high, since Taminiau keeps on delivering great quality collections with dramatic dresses and superb couture techniques. As birds whistled soft tunes through the soundsystem right before the show, an airy and summery mood was set. When the first model stepped onto the runway, this mood was heightened.

She wore a short and sexy trench while carrying a hoola-hoop with several helium balloons floating behind her. The key inspiration was less floaty and light than the balloons suggested, however. Two short trenchcoats followed that were postbags of the Dutch postal service gone couture. The postal bag was hinted at in almost every look in one way or another. Through color mostly, but also by shape – simple above the knee cocktail and sackdresses, for instance.

Taminiau created many types of beautiful dresses, ranging from a tulle poofdress to a floor length mermaid gown covered in sheer fabric that evolved into a long train. Apart from the amazing dresses we have come to know him for, this show felt fresh due to a new degree of sexy. There were micromini skirts and a bodyhugging corset worn with what is best described as a chain mail catsuit.

Overall, the collection delivered what the audience wanted: dreamy and jawdropping dresses. But the day looks must not be forgotten, since they also felt new and very inspired. Either way, the collection was definetly worthy of the standing ovation it received.

Later that night, menswear designer Jeroen van Tuyl revealed his latest collection. The palette was simple: black, grey, white and one odd splash of red. But the designs themselves were not that simple at all. Van Tuyl showed elaborate fisherman’s pants that seemed to wrap around the leg and kimono-inspired jackets and shirts. Not that everything was complicated and over-designed: he also showed very desirable shorts, tops and one suit in particular with elbow length sleeves.

The collection was one built for a rainy Summer, since there was an overload of trenchcoats, ponchos and other protective gear. The shoulders of those trenches were broad and felt slightly eighties.

Van Tuyl’s collection was creative and right on par with what designers are doing in Paris and Milan. The quality of the fabric and cut was incredibly high, and it takes a man with little taste or imagination to not find anything appropriate for his own wardrobe on this runway.